Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Pasakorn Nontananandh. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Pasakorn, appreciate you joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

A decade ago back in Bangkok, Thailand, I started my career as a traditional motion designer utilizing a software called AfterEffects. Through this, I developed a great foundation of time-based media in a conventional television and concert production pipeline.
In 2017, I moved to New York and started working with a new media art studio where I am currently working. When I joined the studio, it was a small studio with four employees, that usually handled work seemingly larger than the scale of our studio. Because of this, I was tasked to handle multiple roles across the production aspect and slowly learned to manage the project as a whole. From the mundane task of designing and producing each of the content design artwork to executing and packaging the project as a whole.
Since this is a ‘new media’ art studio, we are always trying to incorporate the latest cutting-edge technology, both in software and hardware to accomplish the ongoing work. Thus, it has forced me to constantly learn and understand the new tools suitable for each new project.
In my field of view, the way to progress fast is an attitude to always be open to the task or scope of work that is outside the areas of your expertise. Some might not end up being the skillset you directly utilize in your own scope of work but it will grant you an understanding of the project and be able to communicate it to another facet of the team.

My biggest obstacles are a combination of the language barrier and work culture. English is my 2nd language and even though I started learning English at a young age, I sometimes come across words, phrases, or slang that were never taught in school. Additionally, some of the technical terms I used in Thailand are irrelevant here.
In turn, this subtly slowed down my process of learning and integrating myself with the rest of the team. Despite all of that and with an open mindset from the beginning, I steadily got used to communicating with other team members and clients.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m working at a new media art studio called, VolvoxLabs. Inspired by nature, we are capable of delivering multidisciplinary artwork that’s a combination of visual graphics, front/back-end system development, and physical/digital fabrication. We are also known for flexibility and the creative way we bring the client’s idea to life by combining the latest technology with a traditional art production.

As the art & motion design director,( your job title should be capitalized)the work generally ranges from traditional motion design for TV screens to designing motion design graphics for popup and permanent installation, full-scale concert visual graphics, and interactive visuals for interactive installation. To tackle all of these tasks I need to be knowledgeable in a vast area of content creation to lead the motion design team to execute the work while being a technical expert in order to create a streamlined workflow for each of the projects which are generally different from one another.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

We are a new media art studio and I’m leading the content designer team to combine the traditional motion design content in conjunction with experimentation art to deliver the high fidelity artwork on the untraditional screen/ canvas of the building/ installation space.

We are fortunate that most of the clients come to us willing to give us the freedom of creativity in art direction and the way we are going to present it.

Moreover, I also believe that the best performance in creativity comes from the ability to explore and develop artwork that resonates with a particular person.
Therefore, the freedom trickles down from the top of the organization to each of the individual motion designers.
For most of the projects, I tend to lead the motion design team to work as the personal art project which I act as the project advisor. Something that normally occurs in the fine art practice. This way, we are able to draw the purest form of creativity and performance within each of the team members.
More than often, their outcome surprises the rest of the team and greatly contributes to the project, in turn, satisfies the clients with unique takes.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

When I started to work at my current studio the founder/creative director was passionate about the craft that the studio produces. He holds himself to a high standard as a designer/artist himself. I always jokingly say that the ‘ultimate client’ is none other than our creative director. That has always been true since the day I started working here till now This presented a unique and great challenge since several projects were fast-paced and demanding themselves. There were many scenarios in which I had to make major adjustments to the work even before we could share it with the end clients, which consequently turned into many late nights at the studio. One of the main reasons I was not able to satisfy the head of the studio with my design was that I came from a very different work environment that possessed a different aesthetic direction. This is a trait that takes a long process to change, nevertheless, I powered through the team communication and redesigning process.
It briefly took three years in order for me to naturally ideate and create the work that smoothly passed his approval.
When I look back, it was indeed a hard time, spending countless hours working on projects and slowly shifting my aesthetic point of view to match the studio. Yet, it broadened my perspective to a new high. This understanding of the studio aesthetic makes it easier for me to lead the entire project with minimal input from the C-suite.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://akaliko8.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/akaliko8_pas/
• Facebook: –
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pasakorn-nontananandh-197b1b126/
• Twitter: –
• Youtube: –
• Yelp: –
• Soundcloud: –
• Other: studio website: www.volvoxlabs.com

Image Credits

01 – Photo by Volvox Labs
02 – Photo by Volvox Labs
04 – Photo by Volvox Labs